Best Thing Since Sliced Bread: A Roti-Making Machine

The inventors of a countertop roti-making machine are getting ready to introduce their creation to the North American market.

Rotimatic, the first-of-its-kind robotic kitchen appliance that churns out puffy Rotis, or tortilla-like flatbread will sell for $599 in the U.S. to customers who order online starting Thursday, Zimplistic, the company that makes the Roti machine said.

But there’s still a bit of a wait after orders are placed.

The device will be shipped to U.S.-based customers starting in March next year for orders received during what the company called the ‘pre-order period,’ which began Thursday. Although Zimplistic did not specify how long this period will last, it said that orders will be honored according to a first-come, first-serve basis.

Once the period ends, the Rotimatic will retail for $999.

“One of the reasons for taking pre-orders is it helps us forecast the demand a bit better,” said Rishi Irani, who co-founded Zimplistic with his wife in 2008.

There was a flood of interest from the South Asian diaspora eight months ago when the Singapore-based company posted a four-minute video on YouTube showing how the Rotimatic works. Since then, the clip has been viewed more than 2 million times.

The inventors claim it is capable of producing hot, round Rotis, also known as ‘chapattis,’ at a rate of one-a-minute. It works with any type of wheat flour and one can choose from the settings how soft or thick they want their flatbreads.

The company said to achieve this they had to engineer technology from scratch, filing eight patents in total for the invention.

The U.S. launch follows a pilot run in Singapore which Mr. Israni described as “extremely successful.”

“We put a lot of units into people’s homes and got back lots of feedback to prepare us for the U.S.,” he said.

Mr. Irani refused to say when the product will be available in India, possibly its biggest market.

Compared to other similar kitchen appliances, the Rotimatic is far more expensive.

A high-end bread maker by Panasonic, for example, costs $170.

Smaller, more basic models that simply flatten and cook the dough can go for as little as $14, but no one machine combines the back-breaking effort of almost 20 different steps including measuring, kneading, rolling and monitoring dough as it cooks slowly in a hot pan.

The Rotimatic’s inventors claim it can do everything – all you have to do is add flour and water.

Atish Patel is a multimedia journalist based in Delhi. You can follow him on Twitter @atishpatel.